Book Reviews, Raves, Rants and Raptures

Software Sitarist speaks

Call him a ‘Software Sitarist’, a ‘Corporate Artist’ or a ‘Mathematical Musician’; Sameep Kulkarni remains the maestro who juggles embedded software by the day and the sitar strings at night, with perfect balance. Sameep Kulkarni is a person who ‘sticks on’. This young man from Pune started his ‘affair with his Sitar’ at the tender age of six, and has never let go. He forayed into the world of software a decade and a half later and has stayed on with his first job too. He has given over 500 concerts so far and thinks music is on the way to being ‘globalized’. Sameep doesn’t want to be a full time musician; he is as passionate about his work as he is about music.

Techgoss met Sameep and here is an extract of the conversation.

Techgoss (TG): What is your basic formal education?Sameep Kulkarni (SK): I did complete engineering in instrumentation and control with distinction from a very famous college of engineering – V.I.T. from Pune. Biomedical engineering was the subject of specialization in my college days.

TG: Tell us about your current work as a techie. Introduce your techie avatar, like where do you work and what do you do?SK: After I completed my engineering I got a job at Jopasana Softwares which has been now taken over by the Coreobjects Software (www.coreobjects.com). I am working for last 5 years in the same organization. In Coreobjects, I am working on the Real Time Embedded Softwares as a senior software QA engineer. I do test the automotive embedded software using the tools like CANape, Matlab, CANayzer, etc. The knowledge of instrumentation is helping me in the software job as it includes lot of feedback and control of embedded systems with controllers like P, PI, PID, and PD. I have always been very strong in mathematics since my school days and my analytical ability is always been used well in my software career.

TG: Is this your first job?SK: Yes, the first job and I am working in the same organization for the last 5 years.

TG: How does your job relate to your passion? Is it a help or a hindrance? How does your workplace accept your music?SK: My job has never been a hindrance to my passion. It’s always a help. I am financially totally secured because of my job and I can concentrate on my passion without making it as a profession. My colleagues are very supportive to me at my software job and for sitar. I have done numerous concerts for my organization and also for many other corporate companies, musical organizations, schools, universities etc. My music never comes in the way during my computing job. I am a senior software engineer by day and a Sitarist by night, simple

TG: You have been born in a family of music, how come you took up a job in software in spite of the excellent talent in music? Have you ever thought of being a musician full time?SK: I have been born in the family of academicians as well as musicians and not just the musicians. My mother is a merit holder in the SSC board exams, PhD, science teacher and also a singer. My dad is a mathematician and a violinist. My sister is a MCOM, C.S. inter, Sangeet Visharad as well as a professional international singer. So I always wanted to keep our family tradition alive. I never wanted to be a full time musician. I always wanted to be an engineer first and also wanted to pursue my passion simultaneously. Getting a good academic education always helps in the music as well. Getting good musical education always helps in academics. You get different dimension to your life after learning music; your concentration gets improved immensely. Dealing with different software helps in developing your brain as well.

TG: What are your international exposures in music? Have you done any western classical training? How about programs abroad?SK: I have played sitar in the US based album called as ‘Fantasy’. I played sitar on the tunes of the American pop music sung by New York based pop singer Angeli. The 2 songs from the album ‘Fantasy’ in which I had played sitar got selected for the 2 movies in the Hollywood – ‘The Twisted Fortune’ and ‘Baby baby’. The album ‘Fantasy’ also got launched in 42 different countries around the world. I did also perform in the lecture cum demonstration on Indian classical music and Sitar and on playing techniques in the video recorded by music professor of Berkley University, USA. Also I have played sitar pieces in many recording albums from many countries…

TG: Where do you see yourself ten years from now?SK: I want to be ‘The Best Software Sitarist in the World’ one day. Want be equally good in sitar as well the software career in future. I want to get a good name in the music field and want to do some constructive work in the field of music and software both which will be recognized globally… I want to reach the top most position in whatever I do in life. I hope god will give me good health to pursue my dual careers.

TG: Anything else you would like to say?SK: I have won 17 competitions and won 5 Awards up till now, I want to continue doing so in the future. More than 250 of my videos are been seen by more than 1, 20,000 people in the whole world. I want to continue with this…My 2 solo CDs are been released by ‘The musician’s guild’ and ‘Prerana’. I want more solo albums to be released in the future…